Corrugated paperboard boxes provide an exceptionally rugged, economical, and adaptable container for shipment and storage of goods. Because of the multi-ply construction of corrugated paperboard, the material is extremely lightweight for its stiffness. Nonetheless, the finishing or conversion of raw paper or corrugated board into a corrugated container commonly is accomplished at a location distant from the final use of the container. Hence, to economically transport the box, it must be shipped in an unassembled or knocked-down configuration. When products are to be placed in boxes in an industrial facility, the need to mechanically assemble the container with adhesives is readily addressed. Yet many boxes are used in the field, in homes, businesses, or agricultural settings, far from the jigs and wet adhesives of the factory floor. These boxes must be capable of being assembled without the need for post-manufacture adhesives.
Crash bottom, or automatic bottom boxes have been developed which are mechanically assembled without the aid of tools or adhesives. These boxes employ an arrangement of flaps and panels, which, by diligent manipulation by the end user, can be more or less rapidly assembled into a finished container. Nevertheless, conventional automatic boxes leave much to be desired in ease of assembly and final stacking strength. Boxes employed for document storage, for example, may contain significant loads when stacked. If a box cannot successfully carry the loads applied, the contents may be damaged, or the stack itself may collapse. Furthermore, occasional users of the boxes should not have to read detailed instructions, or follow an extended sequence of steps to assemble a box.
What is needed is a corrugated container which can be simply and rapidly assembled, and which has adequate levels of stacking strength.